those of its closest competitors. The service was initially priced at US$10 per month. On 28 February 2017, SoundCloud renamed its main Go plan SoundCloud Go+, adding a secondary tier titled SoundCloud Go at a US$5 price point, which does not include the licensed music library but still offers ad-free and offline playback. SoundCloud Go+ offers mix tracks for certain DJ apps, has a complete catalogue, and has 256 kbit/s streaming. Next Pro Next Pro offers premium services for musicians under the banner Next Pro. The Next Pro service allows users to upload up to six hours of audio, and adds additional features such as enhanced analytics, and the ability to disable comments on tracks. The Next Pro tier allows unlimited uploads. Label services SoundCloud For Artists In October 2022, SoundCloud announced a new program known as "SoundCloud For Artists", which is a rebranding/merger of Jeff Ponchick's Repost Network which was acquired by SoundCloud in 2019. The company formerly had two divisions of Repost By SoundCloud, Repost and Repost Select. Repost was a paid distribution platform available to the public while Repost Select was the dedicated label services department that provided label services such as marketing, funding and music distribution for artists that signed with SoundCloud directly/independent labels that have partnerships with SoundCloud. In July of 2022 SoundCloud A&R Cameron Cox carried out a distribution deal with Sohaib Ali and Alontae Lloyd's BlondeWorld Label which is the first independent label to enter into a partnership venture with the company prior to the rebranding. Criticism As SoundCloud evolved and expanded beyond its initial user base, consisting primarily of grassroots musicians, many users complained that it had sacrificed its usefulness to independent artists in an attempt to appeal to the masses, perhaps in preparation for public sale. Such criticism particularly followed the launching of a revamped website in 2013 which, according to former CEO Alexander Ljung, was implemented for the purpose of increasing SoundCloud usage. On 3 July 2014, TorrentFreak reported that SoundCloud offered unlimited removal powers to certain copyright holders, allowing those copyright holders to unilaterally remove paid subscribers' content without recourse. In April 2015, SoundCloud announced a new partnership with Zefr, a content tracking company that works with YouTube to help identify songs on the platform and facilitate either takedowns or ads being run against it. In July 2016, SoundCloud notified registered users via email that it would be "phasing